I have to apologize.

For the next 27 days, I will be exceedingly annoying. I will post, re-post, and trumpet the release of my first book, Data Leverage, as I have seen countless other authors do on Twitter, Facebook, and here on LinkedIn. I will share the status, links, reviews, and posts from the book for roughly one month for a very good reason.

Amazon makes me do it.

Amazon places an enormous amount of weight on the first 30 days of traction for a book release. And who can blame them? They understand that the interest in a book must be modeled out from all available data and they are the best in the world at this (as well as countless other datasets.) They track clicks, reviews, purchases, as well as other factors in an algorithm that identifies winners.

Just as our book points out, data drives decisions and outcomes. Data is not just the new currency, but the means by which currency is valued. When you visit our book page, purchase a copy, or even leave a review on Amazon, that data is fed into an ongoing analytics engine that determines critical marketing and visibility parameters. Vital lists like the Amazon Kindle 25 or the New and Noteworthy are huge differentiators to an author and it is worth explaining the relationship between the data and the audience. In Data Leverage, we outline how these types of datasets have different values and different risks so I couldn’t resist pointing out the ironic nature of how this data partnership between you, the audience, and me, the author, occurs on Amazon.

This is why many authors, my brother and I included, act in ways that are contrary to our natural personalities. We must become shameless promoters for a time. We promote our books and also ask our friends, colleagues, and relatives to do the same in order to break through what many authors have called “the cliff” for books on Amazon which rapidly approaches at the end of the first 30 days.

We appreciate your patience and feel free to ignore us for the next month or so.

And for more information on how Amazon and your business can better leverage your own data, click here.